7e>e. 
6s 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


ADVENTURES 

IN  THE  CANYONS  OF  THE 

COLORADO 


Price  SO  Cents 


WILLIAM  WALLACE  BASS 


4^ 


Mr.  W.  W.  Bass  with  his  old  indian  friend. 

Mr,  Bass  has  written  the  tradition  and  history  of  the  Havasupai 

Indians  and  taught  them  our  language. 


Ad-^entures 
in  tKe  Can3?ons  of  tKe  Colorado 

By  tx\?o  of  its  earliest  explorers, 

James  White  and  W.  W.  Hax'^kins 

witK  introduction  and  notes 

WILLIAM  WALLACE  BASS 

niie  Grand  Canyon  Guide 


1920 

Published  at  Grand  Can>)on,  Arizona 
by  the  Authors 


p  -7  ?r  ?r 


Cop5>rigKt,  1920 
WILLIAM  WALLACE  BASS 

Grand  Canyon,  Ariz. 


5"  ^o*er  'x- 

BANCROFT 
•    SRARY 


FOREWORD 

By  George  Wharton  James 
Author  of  ''In  and  Around  the  Grand  Canyon,"  "Arizona  the 
Wonderland,"  "The  Grand  Canyon  of  Arizona,"  "New  Mexico, 
the  Land  of  the  Delightmakers."  etc.,  etc. 


The  more  the  people  of  the  United  States  know  of  their  scenic 
wonderlands  the  more  interest  will  there  be  aroused  as  to  "who 
first  saw"  this  or  the  other  of  them.  The  arousement  of  this 
especial  interest  in  regard  to  the  Grand  Canyon  and  its  tributaries 
is  growingly  apparent.  A  hundred  thousand  Americans  see  the 
Grand  Canyon  today  where  one  saw  it  at  the  time  of  my  first 
visit,  nearly  forty  years  ago. 

Among  the  hordes  of  people  attracted  to  the  Grand  Canyon 
by  curiosity,  scenic  allurement,  business,  pleasure  or  what  not, 
but  two  have  gained  any  fame  as  guides  to  its  wondrous  depths 
and  rim  revelations.  These  two  are  John  Hance  and  William 
Wallace  Bass.  I  knew  Hance  long  before  he  had  dreamed  that 
the  Canyon  would  help  make  him  famous ;  I  ate  venison  stew 
with  him  when  he  was  but  a  cowboy  in  the  employ  of  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  Hull  ranch ;  I  wrote  the  first  account  of  those 
peculiar  and  exaggerated  yarns  of  his  that  gained  him  his  fame 
as  the  "Munchausen  of  the  West."  It  was  on  these  yarns  alone 
that  his  fame  reposed.  He  was  never  a  guide.  He  knew  nothing 
of  the  Canyon,  east  or  west,  twenty  miles  from  the  trail  that 
unfortunately  was  named  after  him.  He  never  read  a  line  of  its 
history,  and  never  cared  to  know  who  first  discovered  it.  He 
got  lost  years  after  the  Canyon  was  being  visited  by  great  num- 
bers of  whites,  when  he  attempted  to  guide  a  party  to  the  home 
of  the  Havasupai  Indians,  whose  ancestors  made  the  trail  which 
he  discovered  and  claimed  as  his  own. 

On  the  other  hand,  William  Wallace  Bass,  who  came  to  the 
Canyon  some  years  ahead  of  Hance,  felt  its  peculiar  allurements 
from  the  first  moment  he  saw  it.  There  is  no  man  living  who 
has  been  more  deeply  interested  in  studying  its  geological  his- 
tory, in  searching  the  tomes  of  the  past  for  stories  of  its  dis- 
covery, and  in  promoting  the  intelligent  interests  of  literary  men, 

[51 


Foreword 

artists,  photographers,  poets,  geologists,  students  and  tourists 
who  have  come  to  visit  it  than  has  he.  His  library  upon  the  sub- 
ject is  exhaustive  and  complete,  and  he  is  so  well  versed  in  some 
features  of  its  local  geology,  that  he  has  changed  many  a  scien- 
tist's opinions  as  to  the  secret  of  its  formation  and  development. 
John  C.  Van  Dyke  wrote  truly  of  him  when  he  said  in  his  recent 
book  on  the  Grand  Canyon,  he  "has  been  'the  guide,  philosopher 
and  friend'  of  almost  every  geologist  at  the  Canyon.  Unques- 
tionably he  knows  the  geology  of  the  region." 

Born  in  Shelbyville,  Indiana,  in  1848,  he  came  to  Arizona,  by 
way  of  an  hospital  for  incurables  in  New  York,  to  die.  Life  in 
the  open  gave  him  a  new  hope,  and  at  72  he  is  still  hale,  hearty, 
vigorous  and  capable  of  more  work  than  many  a  city-bred  youth 
of  25.  His  life  in  Arizona  has  been  a  romance  throughout, 
and  in  much  of  it  I  have  either  shared  or  been  an  interested 
spectator.  My  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Bass  was  at  Flagstaff  in 
1888,  under  the  following  circumstances  : 

I  had  gone  out  to  the  Canyon,  from  Flagstaff,  with  the  Rev. 
Stewart  Conrad  Wright,  a  Methodist  minister,  and  several 
women.  The  Methodist  church  at  Flagstaff  had  just  been  built, 
and  on  my  return  the  minister  invited  me  to  give  a  lecture  on 
what  I  had  seen.  At  the  close  of  the  talk — which  undoubtedly 
was  a  pretty  crude  though  enthusiastic  attempt — Mr.  T.  G. 
Norris,  a  lawyer  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted,  brought 
up  to  me  a  man  dressed  in  typical  cowboy  fashion,  evidently 
just  off  from  a  roundup,  and  introduced  him  as  Mr.  W.  W.  Bass, 
who  wished  to  talk  to  me  about  the  Canyon.  He  expressed  his 
opinion  of  my  knowledge  of  the  great  abyss  in  no  qualified  terms, 
and  wound  up  by  extending  to  me  an  invitation  to  go  with  him 
as  his  guest  to  the  Havasupai  Indian  village,  in  company  with  a 
special  representative,  S.  M.  McGowan,  sent  out  to  investigate 
the  condition  of  these  Indians.  Afterwards  he  would  take  mc  to 
another,  and  he  claimed  more  wonderful  and  scenic  portion  of 
the  Canyon.  Gladly  the  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  follow- 
ing week  saw  me  at  Williams,  starting  out  in  a  wagon  driven 
by  Mr.  Bass,  with  Mr.  McGowan  as  my  vis-a-vis. 

This  trip  was  my  introduction  to  the  Havasupai  Indians  and 
the  wonders  of  their  romantically  located  home.  But  of  greater 
importance  than  this  was  the  fact  that  this  trip  firmly  established 
a  friendship  with  Mr.  Bass  that  nothing  has  ever  even  momen- 
tarily shaken,  and  the  years  have  rendered  but  more  firm  and 
secure.  Mr.  Bass  and  I  are  both  very  human,  have  many  of  the 
frailities  and  weaknesses  common  to  mankind,  but  regardless  of 
them  all,  or  of  their  magnification  by  officious  meddlers  and 
mischief-makers,   we   still   preserve    that   unbroken   serenity   and 

[6] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Coeorado 

confidence  of  friendship  vouchsafed  but  to  the  most  favored  of 
men.  We  differ  on  a  thousand  subjects;  we  argue  about  men, 
measures  and  history ;  we  read  geology,  ethnology  and  archae- 
ology from  different  standpoints ;  he  is  aggressively  argumenta- 
tive, I  am  conciliatorily  acquiescent,  yet  in  one  thing  we  are 
steadily  united,  viz.,  in  our  devotion  and  love  to  the  great  canyon 
in  or  near  which  he  has  spent  so  great  a  part  of  his  life. 

This  devotion  on  his  part  has  led  to  the  following  of  many 
faint  clues  that  suggested  the  possibility  of  adding  something 
of  value  to  its  history.  The  results  of  his  investigations  in  two 
cases  are  herein  recorded.  Their  value  is  unquestionable.  The 
narrative  of  Mr.  Hawkins  bears  throughout  the  stamp  of  truth, 
and  while  I  was  one  of  the  first  to  express  disbelief  in  the  story 
of  James  White,  I  am  now  free  to  confess  that  the  evidence  of  his 
truthfulness   is  growing  powerfully  within  me. 

Mr.  Bass  has  done  good  service  to  those  who  are  interested 
in  Canyon  history  by  securing  these  stories  and  I  am  confident 
they  will  meet  with  a  cordial  reception. 

George  Wharton  James. 

Pasadena,  Calif..  April.  1920. 


INTRODUCTION 

By  W.  W.  Bass 

QY  INTEREST  in  the  Grand  Canyon  dates  from 
soon  after  my  arrival,  in  July,  1883,  at  Williams, 
..„..  /\^j.i2ona.  I  had  come  West  for  my  health  on 
the  still  uncompleted  line  of  the  Santa  Fe  route, 
then  known  as  the  "Atlantic  &  Pacific."  Williams 
was  a  railroad  construction  town  and  vied  with 
Kingman  in  its  'Svild  and  woolly"  reputation, 
but  I  located  there  and  soon  began  to  improve  in  health. 
In  one  of  my  exploring  trips  (the  story  of  which  is  fully 
told  in  my  life  history,  soon  to  be  published),  I  found  it 
necessary  to  refer  to  the  available  maps  in  order  to  secure 
what  information  was  possible  as  to  water  locations  and 
the  general  contour  of  the  country  I  desired  to  explore. 
I  succeeded  in  securing  a  Government  map,  and,  as  it  was 
one  with  the  name  of  J.  W.  Powell  as  Director  of  the 
Geological  Survey,  I  supposed  it  was  correct  and  reliable. 
But,  to  my  dismay,  after  four  days'  journey  following 
the  dry  washes  and  valleys  I  found  myself  farther  away 
from  the  walls  of  the  Grand  Canyon  than  when  I  started. 
The  water-holes  and  tanks  were  a  myth  and  my  animals 
nearly  famished  before  I  could  retrace  my  steps  to  where 
I  knew  I  could  save  them.  In  a  word,  the  drainage  sys- 
tem as  shown  on  his  map  was  a  delusion  and  a  snare  and 
nearly  resulted  in  my  disaster. 

Naturally,  this  incident  made  me  suspicious  ever  after 
of  anything  Powell  claimed  to  have  done  in  this  particu- 
lar region,  but  it  remained  for  me  to  have  some  very  posi- 
tive evidence  as  to  the  reliability  of  his  claims  in  another 

18] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Colorado 
direction.  Up  to  this  time  I  had  never  met  him  and  when 
in  1887  he  employed  me  as  guide  in  some  triangiilation 
work  on  the  Bill  Williams  Mountain  I  was  thoroughly 
convinced  as  to  the  doubtful  character  of  certain  state- 
ments he  made  to  me  regarding  other  work  of  the  same 
nature  he  claimed  to  have  done  some  years  previous. 
One  in  particular  was  as  to  a  station  he  said  I  would 
find  on  "Red  Butte,"  which  lies  about  forty-five  miles 
northeast  of  Williams  and  is  a  prominent  feature  on  the 
landscape,  as  it  is  the  only  one  to  be  seen  anywhere 
along  the  south  wall  of  the  Grand  Canyon  for  a  distance 
of  over  fifty  miles.  It  lies  in  the  plain  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  Canyon  wall.  As  I  had  spent  considerable  time 
there  only  a  few  days  previous  in  looking  for  a  silver 
prospect  reported  to  be  there,  I  knew  there  was  no  such 
pile  of  rocks  as  he  described  and  never  had  been  within 
the  knowledge  of  the  oldest  inhabitant  in  this  region.  I 
could  not  find  enough  rocks  on  the  top  of  that  mountain 
to  build  a  respectable  mining  location.  I  also  knew  of 
others  who  had  been  there  on  the  same  mission  and  they 
can  verify  this  statement.  In  addition  to  this  the  later 
geological  work  in  this  section  failed  to  locate  any  such 
station  as  was  claimed  by  him  to  me. 

These  incidents  will  explain,  in  great  measure,  my  sus- 
picions and  questions  as  to  anything  related  by  Major 
Powell.  Accordingly,  when  I  secured  a  copy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment publication  entitled :  "Exploration  of  the  Colo- 
rado River  of  the  West  and  its  Tributaries,  Explored  in 
1869,  1870,  1871  and  1872,  under  the  Direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,"  and  found  it 
was  written  by  Powell,  it  did  not  have  the  same  weight 
with  me  that  it  would  have  done  had  I  not  had  these  per- 
sonal experiences  with  him. 

It  will  be  recalled  by  many  of  my  readers  that  Powell 
made  tzvo  trips  through  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado. 
Yet  in  this  Government-published  volume  he  makes  scant 

[9] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

reference  to  the  second  trip,  and  utterly  fails  to  do  credit 
to  the  members  of  his  party.  Why  he  should  have  failed 
to  include  his  experiences  and  record  the  names  of  the 
men  who  constituted  his  force  on  this  second  trip  has 
always  been  a  mystery  to  various  explorers  of  the  Can- 
yon, and  especially  to  the  members  of  the.  party,  one  of 
whom  was  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh.  In  his  account  of  this  trip 
in  his  book,  ''The  Romance  of  the  Colorado  River,"  pub- 
lished in  1906,  he  states  that  perhaps  this  omission  was 
for  the  sake  of  dramatic  unity.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  has 
always  seemed  as  if  for  some  reason  Powell  did  not  care 
to  do  full  justice  to  the  brave  men  who  accompanied  him 
on  this  trip. 

When,  therefore,  a  monument  was  erected  to  Powell 
on  the  south  rim  of  the  Grand  Canyon,  with  money  ap- 
propriated by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
full  list  of  the  men  who  accompanied  him  on  both  expedi- 
tions was  presumably  given  on  the  bronze  tablet  placed  on 
that  monument,  it  was  with  considerable  astonishment 
that  I  noted  that  the  names  of  three  men  who  accom- 
panied the  first  expedition  were  omitted. 


Inscription  of  Powell  Monument,  Grand  Canyon  National  Park 

Hiese  men  were  O.  G.  Howland,  Seneca  Rowland  and 
William  Dunn. 

[10] 


Adventurks  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 
In  seeking  to  find  the  cause  for  this  strange  omission, 
I  turned  to  Powell's  own  report.    On  page  96,  under  date 
of  August  27,  he  tells  of  the  great  difficulties  they  were 
beset  with : 

This  morning  the  river  takes  a  more  southerly  direction.  The 
dip  of  the  rocks  is  to  the  north,  and  we  are  rapidly  running  into 
lower  formations.  Unless  our  course  changes,  we  shall  very  soon 
run  again  into  the  granite.  This  gives  us  some  anxiety.  Now 
and  then  the  river  turns  to  the  west  and  excites  hope  that  arc 
soon  destroyed  by  another  turn  to  the  south.  About  nine  o'clock 
we  come  to  the  dreaded  rock.  It  is  with  no  little  misgiving 
that  we  see  the  river  enter  these  black,  hard  walls.  At  its  very 
entrance  we  have  to  make  a  portage ;  then  we  have  to  let  down 
with  lines  past  some  ugly  rocks.  Then  we  run  a  mile  or  two 
farther,  and  then  the  rapids  below  can  be  seen. 

At  eleven  o'clock  we  come  to  a  place  in  the  river  where  it 
seems  much  worse  than  any  we  have  yet  met  in  all  its  course. 
A  little  creek  comes  down  from  the  left.  We  land  first  on  the 
right,  and  clamber  up  over  the  granite  pinnacles  for  a  mile  or 
two,  but  can  see  no  way  by  which  we  can  let  down,  and  to  run 
it  would  be  sure  destruction. 

After  another  page  devoted  to  discussing  the  danger;; 
and  difficulties  ahead  of  them,  Powell  continues,  on 
page  98: 

After  supper  Captain  (O.  G.)  Rowland  asked  to  have  a  talk 
with  me.  We  walk  up  the  little  creek  a  short  distance,  and  I 
soon  find  that  his  object  is  to  remonstrate  against  my  determina- 
tion to  proceed.  He  thinks  that  we  had  better  abandon  the 
river  here.  Talking  with  him,  I  learn  that  his  brother,  William 
Dunn,  and  himself  have  determined  to  go  no  farther  in  the  boats. 
So  we  return  to  camp.     Nothing  is  said  to  the  other  men. 

For  the  last  two  days  our  course  has  not  been  plotted.  I  sit 
down  and  do  this  now,  ....  As  soon  as  I  determined  all 
this,  I  spread  my  plot  on  the  sand,  and  wake  Rowland,  who  is 
sleeping  down  by  the  river,  and  show  him  where  I  suppose  we 
are  and  where  several  Mormon  settlements  are  situated. 

We  have  another  short  talk  about  the  morrow  and  he  lies 
down  again ;  but  for  me  there  is  no  sleep.  All  night  long  I  pace 
up  and  down  a  little  path,  on  a  few  yards  of  sand  beach,  along 

the  river.     Is  it  wise  to  go  on  ? For  years  I   have  been 

contemplating  this  trip.  To  leave  the  exploration  unfinished,  to 
say  that  there  is  a  part  of  the  canyon  which  I  cannot  explore, 

[11] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

having  already  almost  accomplished  it,  is  more  than  I  am  willing 
to  acknowledge,  and  I  determine  to  go  on. 

I  wake  my  brother  and  tell  him  of  Rowland's  determination, 
and  he  promises  to  stay  with  me;  then  I  call  up  Hawkins,  the 
cook,  and  he  makes  a  like  promise ;  then  Sumner,  and  Bradley, 
and  Hall,  and  they  all  agree  to  go  on. 

August  28.  At  last  daylight  comes,  and  we  have  breakfast, 
without  a  word  being  said  as  to  the  future.  The  meal  is  as 
solemn  as  a  funeral.  After  breakfast,  I  ask  the  three  men  if  they 
still  think  it  best  to  leave  us.  The  elder  Rowland  thinks  it  is, 
and  Dunn  agrees  with  him.  The  younger  Rowland  tries  to  per- 
suade them  to  go  on  with  the  party,  failing  in  which,  he  decides 

to   go  with   his   brother Two    rifles   and   a   shotgun    are 

given  to  the  men  who  are  going  out.  I  ask  them  to  help  them- 
selves to  the  rations,  and  take  what  they  think  to  be  a  fair  share. 
This  they  refuse  to  do,  saying  they  have  no  fear  but  that  they 
can  get  something  to  eat,  but  Billy,  the  cook,  has  a  pan  of  bis- 
cuits prepared  for  dinner,  and  these  he  leaves  on  a  rock. 

.....  The  last  thing  before  leaving,  I  write  a  letter  to  my 
wife,  and  give  it  to  Rowland.  Sumner  gives  him  his  watch, 
directing  that  it  be  sent  to  his  sister  should  he  not  be  heard  from 
again.  The'  records  of  the  expedition  have  been  kept  in  dupli- 
cate. One  set  of  these  is  given  to  Rowland,  and  now  we  are 
ready.  For  the  last  time  they  entreat  us  not  to  go  on,  and  tell 
us  that  it  is  madness  to  set  out  in  this  place;  that  we  can  never 
go  safely  through  it;  and,  further,  that  the  river  turns  again 
to  the  south  into  the  granite,  and  a  few  miles  of  such  rapids 
and  falls  will  exhaust  our  entire  stock  of  rations  and  then  it 
will  be  too  late  to  climb  out.  Some  tears  are  shed;  it  is  rather 
a  solemn  parting;  each  party  thinks  the  other  is  taking  the  dan- 
gerous course. 

Thus  they  part;  Powell  and  the  men  who  had  deter- 
mined to  remain  with  him  to  go  on  and  finally  leave  the 
exploration  incomplete  at  a  point  a  little  further  down. 
The  three  men  who  left  the  party — the  two  Rowlands 
and  Dunn — were  never  seen  again  alive.  On  the  follow- 
ing expedition  Powell  spent  some  time  with  the  Shivwit 
Indians,  in  company  with  Jacob  Hamblin,  a  Mormon 
pioneer  and  missionary.  From  them  he  learned  of  the 
death  of  the  men  who  left  him.  On  pages  130-131,  he 
thus  recounts  the  story.  After  he  had  talked  with  the 
Indians,  one  of  them  made  a  reply,  and  in  his  speech  said : 

[12] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

Last  year  we  killed  three  white  men.  Bad  men  said  they  were 
our  enemies.  They  told  great  lies.  We  thought  them  true.  We 
were  mad;  it  make  us  big  fools.     We  are  very  sorry. 

After  the  council  had  broken  up,  so  Powell  says: 

Mr.  Hamblin  fell  into  conversation  with  one  of  the  Indians 
and  held  him  until  the  others  had  left,  and  then  learned  more 
particulars  of  the  death  of  the  three  men.  They  came  upon  the 
Indian  village  almost  starved  and  exhausted  with  fatigue.  They 
were  supplied  with  food,  and  put  on  their  way  to  the  [Mormon] 
settlements.  Shortly  after  they  had  left,  an  Indian  from  the  east 
side  of  the  Colorado  arrived  at  the  village  and  told  them  about 
a  number  of  miners  having  killed  a  squaw  in  a  drunken  brawl, 
and  no  doubt  these  were  the  men.  No  person  had  ever  come 
down  the  Canyon ;  that  was  impossible  ;  they  were  trying  to  hide 
their  guilt.  In  this  way  he  worked  them  into  a  great  rage.  They 
followed,  surrounded  the  men  in  ambush,  and  filled  them  full  of 
arrows. 

This  is  practically  the  whole  story  as  told  by  Powell. 
For  years  it  has  been  accepted  as  the  truth.  Science  is 
Truth  focalized,  and  there  is  no  real  science  without  truth. 
I  have  always  wondered  whether  this  narrative  gave  us 
the  whole  truth,  and  when  I  saw  the  Powell  Monument 
and  noted  the  omission  of  the  three  names  of  the  two 
Rowlands  and  Dunn,  I  wondered  still  more.  Why  should 
the  names  of  these  three  men  be  left  off  after  having 
traveled  over  four  hundred  miles  on  the  maiden  trip, 
and  thus  having  proven  their  valor  and  courage? 

But  now  comes  another  witness  on  the  scene.  Some 
time  ago  I  learned  that  William  W.  Hawkins,  the  cook 
referred  to  by  Powell,  was  still  alive.  Powell  died  in 
1902  at  the  age  of  69  years.  Hawkins  was  then  living, 
and  thus  became  the  sole  survivor  (I  believe)  of  the 
first  Powell  trip.  After  the  expedition  he  settled  in  Pine 
Valley,  Utah,  but  later  moved  to  Gila  Valley,  Arizona, 
and  thence  to  Graham  County,  where  he  resided  for 
thirty-five  years.  He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  many 
years  and  resided  at  Eden  in  that  county.  He  also  was  a 
prominent  rancher  and  at  his  death  had  six  sons  living, 
two  of  whom  reside  near  Mesa,  Arizona.    He  was  highly 

[13] 


I 

Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him  and  no  one  of  his  large 
circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances  will  question  the  truth 
of  this  account  as  given  to  me  for  publication.  He  died 
in  September,  1919,  at  the  St.  Joseph's  Hospital,  Phoenix, 
Arizona.     The  following  account  was  written  by  him,  in 


W.  W.  HAWKINS 


his  own  handwriting,  a  few  months  before  his  death,  at 
my  solicitation,  with  the  understanding  that  I  was  to 
publish  it,  if  it  was  deemed  desirable.  Hence  I  now  give 
it  to  the  world.  The  following  is  Hawkins'  own  brief 
introduction  to  his  narrative : 

[141 


AdyknturKs  jn  the  Canyons  of  Tim  Colorado 


? 
^^^^^  .-^cua^t-..^  .  -/^^^^-^r-*-*^  ^i/ ^^^  ^-^?^t->i:>  i^./^*^.r^ 

Ce-y-rW^'/C^,^  4^^  Jl2.t^U..^J>  ,.■'^^^>^^  ^^Hrxl^^  /??<  fi^i.-,^c^ 

/^jL-e^^^,^,^^^  y^;^/,:^,^^  £^y^u^jO^  J^  «^<9*-^o^J>-~ 

Fac-simile    of    Page    1    of    W.    W,    Hawkins    manuscript    account    of    tht 
First    Powell    Expedition. 


[15 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Colorado 


'£-«-<-'-♦ 


^.d^ 


i^^a^ff^ 


-^.*»*.Jie4^ 


Fac-simile    of    Page    3    of    W.    W.    Hawkins    manuscript    account    of    the 
First   Powell   EJxpedition. 


[16] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Colorado 
J? 

Fac-simile  of  last  page  of  W.  W.  Hawkins  manuscript  account  of  the 
First  Powell   Expedition. 

INTRODUCTlOxN 

I  will  write  this  as  it  comes  to  me  and  you  can  then  take  what 
portion  you  may  see  fit.  I  will  state  it  just  as  it  happened,  at 
the  time  it  did  happen.  It  seems  that  you  have  the  two  expedi- 
tions mixed  that  Powell  made  down  the  Colorado  River,  and  in 
order  to  straighten  this  out  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  give 
you  a  brief  account  of  our  first  expedition  from  start  to  finish, 
then  you  will  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  matter  and  I  can  give  you 
a  better  understanding  by  commencing  at  the  first.  Of  course 
this  will  be  some  that  has  already  been  published  by  Powell  him- 
self, and  some  that  happened  that  was  not  well  to  put  into 
Powell's  report,  but  they  are  true.     But  as   I  am  the  only  one 

[17] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colokaix) 

that  remains  of  the  first  expedition  I  could  not  prove  just  how 
things  were  and  how  they  happened. 

In  the  fall  of  1868,  myself,  J.  C.  Sumner,  William 
Dunn,  O.  G.  Howland  and  Seneca  Rowland,  brothers, 
were  camped  at  the  Hot  Springs  in  middle  park,  Colo- 
rado, about  one  hundred  miles  west  of  Denver,  Colorado. 
We -were  trapping  and  prospecting,  both  in  that  section 
and  on  White  River,  some  seventy-five  miles  further 
west.  While  our  party,  J.  C.  Sumner  in  charge,  was  in 
camp  at  this  place,  Major  Powell  and  party  pulled  in 
with  their  pack  animals,  twenty-five  animals  and  twelve 
or  eighteen  men.  After  they  stopped  and  unpacked  we 
all  went  over  to  see  what  they  were  going  to  do  in  this 
wild  country,  and  they  all  seemed  to  be  equally  interested 
in  our  party.  Our  mode  of  dress  was  somewhat  different 
to  what  they  had  been  used  to  seeing,  as  we  were  all 
dressed  in  buckskin,  and  our  hair  came  down  on  our 
shoulders.  I  was  the  youngest  one  in  the  crowd.  We 
soon  found  out  each  other's  business.  Powell  told  us  he 
intended  to  make  his  winter  camp  over  on  White  River 
and  in  the  spring  he  was  going  to  explore  the  Colorado 
River  from  start  to  finish.  We  told  him  that  we  intended 
to  do  the  same  thing,  only  on  a  small  scale.  He  said 
that  only  one  of  his  crowd  was  going  with  him  down  the 
river,  that  was  his  brother,  Walter  Powell.  He  said  he 
would  like  to  have  our  party  join  him  and  go  with  him 
flown  the  river.  We  had  most  of  our  provisions  on 
White  River  at  that  time.  This  was  Powell's  first  trij) 
with  his  pack  animals  and  it  would  be  necessary  for  him 
to  make  another  trip,  as  most  of  his  party  would  winter 
with  him.  After  we  both  got  over  on  White  River  where 
our  cabins  were,  he  said  he  would  buy  our  provisions, 
horses  and  mules  and  our  traps,  and  that  we  could  become 
members  of  his  party  and  that  he  would  pay  us  reasonable 
wages  to  come  with  him.  So  we  all  agreed  on  prices  for 
^lifferent  articles.  T  had  four  head  of  animals,  Sumner 
five  head,   Dunn   two,   and   the   Howland   brothers   had 

[18] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Colorado 

three  head.    I  owned  all  the  traps.    These  he  was  to  re- 
place when  we  got  through  at  Cottonwood  Island.    So  we 
went  to  work  building  more  cabins  and  put  up  ten  or 
twelve,  and  fixed  up  for  the  winter  by  dragging  up  wood, 
which  was  plentiful  there.    Then  we  laid  iii  a  fine  supply 
of  venison.     Before  the  snow  got  too  deep,  Powell  took 
the  most  of  his  party  that  came  from  the  east  with  him 
out  to  Green  River  Station  and  he  with  them  went  east, 
leaving  his  wife  and  brother  in  camp.     In  April  we  all 
broke  camp  and  went  to  Green  River  Station  and  made 
camp  about  one-half  mile  below  the  U.  P.  R.  R.  bridge, 
and  waited  for  Powell  to  return  with  our  boats,  which  he 
did  the  latter  part  of  April.     He  sent  all  the  horses  to 
Echo  Canyon  and  sold  them.     He  drew  his  rations  from 
Fort  Bridger.    We  all  then  went  to  calking  up  and  paint- 
ing our  boats,  which  was  no  small  job  for  us,   for  we 
knew  nothing  about  a  boat.    Powell  got  a  man  discharged 
out  of  the  army  at  Fort  Bridger  to  come  and  show  us 
how  to  calk  the  boats.     This  man's  name  was  George 
Bradley,   a  man  of   nerve   and   staying  qualities,   as  he 
proved  later  on.     Mrs.  Powell  went  to  Salt  Lake  City 
before  going  east.     We  were  all  anxious  to  get  started, 
but  little  did  we  know  what  was  in  store  for  us  in  the 
way  of  experience  and  danger.    We  had  four  boats,  three 
of  them  were  22  feet  long,  4  feet  wide  and  3  feet  deep. 
Each  end  was  decked  over  4  feet  at  each  end,  air  tight. 
These  three  were  supposed  to  carry  the  provisions   for 
ten  men  for  eighteen  months,  that  being  the  time  Powell 
was  going  to  take  to  make  the  trip.     He  was  going  to 
winter  somewhere  in  the  Canyon.     His  boat  was  sixteen 
feet  long,  made  of  pine ;  the  others  were  oak.    They  were 
of  the  Whitehall  pattern.     The  men  were  assigned   to 
their  boats  and  then  the  loads  were  placed  in  them.   The 
Major's  boat  was  used  for  a  guide  boat.     It  was  manned 
by  J.  C.  Sumner  and  William  Dunn  and  the  Major ;  next 
was  Walter  Powell  and  Bradley ;  the  next  was  the  How- 
land   brothers  and  Frank  Goodman;  the  next  was  the 

[19] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

cook  boat,  manned  by  myself  and  Andy  Hall.  Each 
boat  was  loaded  so  as  to  have,  a  nearly  equal  distribution, 
so  that  in  case  of  an  accident  to  one  of  them  the  others 
would  still  have  an  assortment  of  the  provisions.  After 
each  boat  had  received  its  load  we  were  ready  to  start. 
But  where,  none  of  us  knew,  only  that  we  were  going  to 
go  down  through  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado 
River.  We  had  been  told  that  in  places  the  water  ran 
under  the  ground.  There  was  a  great  many  people  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  to  see  us  start.  We  were  all  green 
at  the  business,  Bradley  was  the  only  one  that  had  any 
experience.  But  he  acknowledged  afterwards  that  this 
was  a  little  rough.  We  had  very  good  water  for  some 
twenty  miles,  but,  of  course,  had  to  watch  out  for  the 
small  boat,  as  it  was  supposed  to  go  where  the  other  boats 
that  were  loaded  could  not  go.  I  remember  our  first 
camp  that  evening  for  the  night  and  as  I  was  steering  the 
boat  with  one  oar  behind  and  standing  up  I  could  see 
what  was  in  front  of  us.  I  saw  that  they  were  all 
landing  and  I  told  Andy  they  were  camping  at  this  point. 
The  river  was  straight  and  the  water  smooth  and  Powell 
signaled  to  me  and  we  tried  to  land,  and  did  finally  get 
to  shore  some  four  hundred  yards  below  and  the  other 
boats  dropped  down  to  where  we  were  and  the  rest  of  the 
boys  had  the  laugh  on  us.  Andy  and  I  told  the  Major 
that  we  were  too  heavily  loaded,  the  water  only  lacking 
four  inches  from,  running  over  the  sides  of  our  boat,  and 
as  Andy  said  the  next  day,  we  were  seven  inches  nearer 
the  bottom  of  the  river  than  the  other  two  large  boats,  as 
they  were  nine  inches  above  water,  and  that  we  better 
unload  some  of  the  bacon  and  take  chances  of  replacing 
it  with  venison  and  mountain  sheep  later  on.  So  we 
unloaded  five  hundred  pounds  of  bacon  in  the  river.  We 
soon  found  out  that  was  better.  We  now  passed  through 
Brown's  Park,  some  forty  miles  from  where  we  started. 
At  the  lower  end  of  this  park  the  river  now  runs  into  a 
bad  canyon  of  red  sandstone.    This  was  our  first  canyon 

[20] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

and  Powell  named  it  the  flaming  gorge,  and  it  was  well 
named.  We  made  many  portages  and  it  was  twenty-five 
miles  long.  It  required  ten  days  to  go  that  distance,  as 
we  had  to  make  a  trail  and  carry  our  provisions  and  in- 
struments from  one  place  to  the  other  the  entire  distance, 
and  let  the  boats  down  by  ropes  over  the  bad  rapids.  Of 
course,  when  we  got  through  and  loaded  up  again  the 
boats  were  not  so  heavy  and  the  Major  said  our  appetites 
were  growing.  At  the  mouth  of  this  canyon  we  came  to 
a  nice  little  island  which  we  called  Island  Park.  Here 
we  camped  a  few  days,  for  we  sure  had  rolled  many  a 
rock  two-thirds  of  the  twenty-five  miles  and  soaked  our 
provisions.  I  went  out  on  the  east  side  of  the  canyon 
some  three  miles  to  see  if  there  was  any  game  and  run 
across  a  big  buck  deer  coming  down  the  trail  to  water 
about  one-half  mile  from  camp.  He  stopped  to  take  a 
look  at  me  and  I  shot  just  as  he  stopped  and  broke  his 
neck.  The  boys  heard  the  shot  and  Hall  and  Dunn  came 
out  and  helped  me  in  with  it.  Powell  named  the  moun- 
tain Hawkins  Mountain.  We  moved  on  down  the  river, 
which  was  very  good  traveling  for  a  ways  and  then  we 
heard  a  great  roaring  below  and  saw  Powell  standing  on 
some  rocks  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  He  motioned  us 
to  land,  which  we  all  succeeded  in  doing  except  How- 
land's  boat.  It  went  over  the  rapids  and  broke  in  two 
and  threw  the  men  out.  They  succeeded  in  catching  hold 
of  a  large  pine  tree  that  was  drifting  top  down  stream 
and  seemed  to  stop  just  to  let  the  boys  crawl  on  to  it. 
The  river  was  raising  fast  and  Sumner,  with  the  small 
boat,  was  trying  to  reach  them,  but  his  two  first  trials 
failed  and  the  tree  began  to  move  on  slowly  and  Good- 
man shouted,  ''Goodbye,  boys."  But  then  Sumner  threw 
a  line  he  made  to  where  the  boys  were  on  the  log,  which 
had  moved  on  down  a  ways,  but  he  got  them  in  the  boat 
and  finally  got  near  enough  to  catch  a  rope  and  was 
hauled  into  shore  some  hundred  yards  below.  As  we 
had  lost  considerable  of  our  provisions  and  one  boat,  of 

[21] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 
course  the  men  had  to  double  up  in  the  other  boats.  How- 
land  No.  1  came  in  with  Hall  and  myself,  Howland  No.  2 
went  in  with  Capt.  Powell  and  Bradley,  Goodwin  went  in 
with  Sumner,  Dunn  and  the  Major.  But  as  we  had  good 
water  for  some  time  we  finally  came  to  the  mouth  of 

Creek.     Up  this  creek  about  18  miles  is  the 

Uinta  Agency.  We  went  up  to  the  agency — Powell, 
Goodman  and  myself.  It  was  the  4th  day  of  July  and 
we  had  dinner  with  the  Indian  agent.  Here  we  left 
Goodman.  He  said  he  had  all  he  wanted  of  the  river. 
From  here  to  the  junction  of  the  Green  River  with  the 
Grand  River  the  water  is  very  good,  a  distance  of.  one 
hundred  miles,  which,  took  but  a  few  days  to  make. 
The  canyon  is  hard  rock  and  the  walls  on  the  west  side 
in  some  places  overhang  the  water  three  hundred  feet. 
Back  under  this  shelf  was  drift-wood  and  willows  at  that 
time,  a  good  home  for  beaver  and  otter.  We  stopped  for 
noon  and  went  into  camp  near  the  head  of  a  small  rapid 
and  tied  our  boats  to  small  undergrowth,  and,  being  the 
cook,  I  had  just  started  a  fire  in  a  nice  little  cove  in  the 
brush  and  rock.  I  had  just  got  my  ''mess  kit"  out  of  the 
front  of  the  boat  when  a  wind  started  up  and  set  the 
leaves  and  brush  all  a-blaze.  I  gathered  up  the  mess  kit 
and  made  for  the  boat.  But  the  blaze  beat  me  to  it  and 
had  burned  the  small  ropes  in  two  that  I  had  the  boats 
tied  with,  and  they  were  just  moving  into  the  current.  I 
jumped,  but  missed  the  boat,  and  down  I  went,  mess  kit 
and  all.  I  held  on  to  the  mess  kit  until  I  saw  I  could  not 
raise  with  it  and  so  I  let  it  go  and  came  to  the  top  of  the 
water  to  find  the  boat  some  thirty  feet  from  me,  and  Andy 
was  doing  his  best  to  hold  it  up  stream  until  I  could  catch 
it.  .  I  just  caught  the  boat  as  it  was  going  into  the  rapid, 
but  it  was  not  a  bad  rapid,  as  the  waves  were  about  eight 
feet  high.  Bradley,  held  fast  to  the  side  of  his  boat,  was 
not  able  to  get  into  it,  but  went  through  the  rapid  and  a 
part  of  the  time  his  head  was  under  the  water.  At  the 
lower  end  of  this  rapid  we  stopped,  as  in  our  rush  we 

[221 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

had  left  the  Major  behind,  and  in  order  to  get  him  out  of 
a  place  he  had  got  into  we  took  four  oars  and  made  a 
bridge  across  a  crevis  in  the  rocks  for  him  to  cross  over 
on.  Three  of  the  best  hats  the  boys  had  were  lost  in  the 
fire  and  rapids.  We  were  now  at  the  junction  of  the 
Green  and  Grand  Rivers.  The  walls  on  the  west  side  are 
1,800  feet  high,  where  the  rivers  come  together  in  a  V 
shape.  Now  our  trouble  begins,  and  plenty  of  bad  rapids 
in  the  river.  Dunn  was  the  one  who  took  the  altitudes 
with  the  barometer  and  it  was  here  we  had  the  first  real 
trouble  in  the  party,  although  Powell  had  named  Dunn 
the  "Dirty  Devil."  But  the  rest  of  the  boys  looked  over 
that.  At  noon,  while  we  were  making  a  portage  and 
letting  the  boats  over  a  bad  place,  the  ropes  happened  to 
catch  Bill  Dunn  under  the  arms  and  came  near  drowning 
him,  but  he  managed  to  catch  the  ropes  and  come  out. 
While  we  were  eating  our  dinner  Sumner  said  that  Dunn 
came  near  being  drowned  and  the  Major's  brother  made 
the  remark  that  it  would  have  been  but  little  loss,  and 
the  Major  spoke  up  and  said  that  Dunn  would  have  to 
pay  thirty  dollars  for  a  watch  belonging  to  him  that  had 
been  soaked  with  water  and  ruined,  and  if  he  did  not  he 
would  have  to  leave  the  party.  Andy  Hall  and  I  were 
down  at  our  boat,  I  having  gone  down  after  a  cup  and 
Andy  had  remained  at  the  boat  fitting  one  of  his  oars. 
When  we  returned  to  where  they  were  eating  Sumner 
asked  me  what  I  thought  of  the  Major's  proposition, 
and  I  asked  him  what  it  was,  and  he  then  related  what 
had  been  said.  I  asked  the  Major  if  that  was  his  desire 
and  he  said  that  it  was.  I  made  the  remark  that  a  part 
of  his  wishes  could  not  be  granted,  as  it  was  impossible 
to  get  out  of  the  Canyon  on  account  of  the  abrupt  walls. 
He  then  said  that  it  made  no  difference  whether  Dunn 
got  out  or  not.  I  then  said  that  I  was  sorry  that  Dunn 
had  been  jerked  into  the  water  and  got  the  watch  wet, 
and  that  I  was  sorry  he  felt  that  way  with  one  of  his 
party,  and  the  Major  seemed  to  be  oflfended  at  my  re- 

[23] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oi<  the  Colorado 

marks  and  said  I  had  no  right  to  pass  on  the  matter. 
Also  that  neither  Hall  nor  myself,  in  the  future  of  the 
party,  would  be  expected  to  say  anything,  as  we  were  too 
young.  Hall  made  the  remark  that  we  had  old  heads  on 
our  shoulders  anyway.  Before  this  time  everything 
seemed  to  be  getting  along  fine,  as  each  man  had  a  certain 
task,  or  a  certain  thing  to  do,  and  I  was  doing  the  cook- 
ing, and  I  generally  found  plenty  to  do.  Our  meal  was 
ready  and  we  all  seated  ourselves  on  the  rocks  to  eat  our 
dinner.  Up  to  this  time  I  had  always  helped  the  Major 
all  I  could  and  washed  his  hand  (as  he  only  had  one) 
and  generally  found  him  a  good  place  to  sit  at  meals, 
sometimes  a  few  feet  from  the  rest.  But  before  this  it 
never  made  any  difference  to  me,  but  now  it  did,  for,  as 
Andy  Hall  would  say,  he  raised  hell  with  himself  in  the 
break  he  had  made  with  Dunn.  I  could  see  that  there 
was  a  different  feeling  in  the  whole  party  at  this  time  and 
the  Major  had  sat  down  several  feet  from  the  rest  of 
the  party.  I  poured  out  each  man  a  cup  of  coffee  and 
one  for  him  also  and  we  all  began  to  eat.  He  then  asked 
me  why  I  did  not  bring  him  his  dinner  as  I  had  been  do- 
ing before  and  I  told  him  he  had  just  said  that  he  was 
going  to  make  a  change  in  the  outfit  and  I  told  him  that 
I  had  made  that  change  to  start  the  ball  rolling,  and  that 
he  would  have  to  come  and  get  his  grub  like  the  rest  of 
the  boys.  His  brother  then  handed  his  dinner  to  him. 
After  dinner  Sumner  asked  him  if  he  had  changed  his 
mind  in  regard  to  Dunn  and  the  watch  and  he  said  he 
had  not  and  that  Dunn  would  either  pay  for  the  watch  or 
leave  the  party.  Dunn,  Hall,  Bradley  and  myself  were 
near  the  cook  boat  and  about  twenty  feet  from  the  Major 
and  Sumner.  We  could  not  hear  what  they  were  talking 
about,  but  we  had  decided  that  if  Dunn  left  the  party  we 
would  go  with  him.  Of  course,  we^  expected  opposition 
to  what  we  intended  to  do,  so  after  we  had  talked  the 
matter  over  we  wanted  Bradley  to  go  and  tell  the  Major 
what  we  intended  to  do.    But  Bradley  decided  I  had  bet- 

[24] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

ter  go  and  tell  him  myself,  as  I  had  made  the  plan  of 
going  with  Dunn.  I  went  to  where  Sumner  and  the 
Major  were  talking,  and  the  two  Rowland  boys  were 
with  them.  I  told  the  Major  that  Bradley,  Hall  and  my- 
self had  decided  to  go  with  Dunn  and  that  we  would 
take  my  boat  (the  cook  boat)  and  some  grub,  and  we 
would  pull  out,  and  he  could  come  when  he  got  ready. 
He  said  he  would  not  stand  any  such  work,  that  it  would 
be  the  ruin  of  his  party.  I  told  him  that  it  was  all  his 
own  fault  and  that  I  had  no  more  talk  to  make  and  went 
back  to  the  boat.  I  found  Dunn,  Bradley  and  Hall  wait- 
ing to  see  what  had  happened,  but  before  I  had  time  to 
tell  them,  Sumner  came  and  began  to  talk  to  us,  telling  us 
to  not  feel  put  out,  that  the  Major  was  hasty  and  to  give 
him  another  chance.  Dunn  said  that  the  Major  never  did 
like  him  anyway,  if  he  had  he  would  never  have  named 
the  Eskalanty*  River  dirty  devil.  We  camped  at  that 
place  for  the  night  and  in  the  morning  the  Major  said 
he  would  take  thirty  dollars  for  the  watch  and  that  he 
could  pay  for  it  when  we  got  through.  None  of  the  party 
except  the  Major  liked  Capt.  Powell.  He  had  a  bull- 
dozing way  that  was  not  then  practiced  in  the  west.  He 
threatened  to  slap  me  several  times  for  trying  to  sing  like 
he  did,  but  he  never  did  slap  anyone  in  the  party.  W^e 
all  moved  off  down  the  river  all  O.  K.,  but  our  provisions 
began  to  run  short,  rapids  became  more  often,  some  of 
them  very  bad,  but  for  a  few  days  everything  went  all 
right.  The  boys  would  tell  Indian  adventures  at  night 
that  someone  had  had,  but  the  remark  was  made  that 
Dunn  had  nothing  to  say  and  Captain  Powell  said  he 
guessed  Dunn  did  not  know  much  about  Indians.  The 
Major  chipped  in  and  said,  nor  anything  else.  Sumner 
took  it  up  for  Dunn  because  he  knew  there  would  soon 
be  trouble,  and  told  Powell  that  Dunn  had  been  wounded 


*Correcdy    spelled    "Escalante,"    so   named    after    Padre    Esca 
lante,  who  crossed  the  river  in  an  expedition  made  in   1776. 

[25] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

four  times  by  the  Comanchies,  so  it  all  passed  off.  The 
next  day  we  had  some  very  bad  rapids,  so  bad  that  it  was 
necessary  to  let  the  boats  around  some  large  rocks,  and 
in  order  to  do  this,  and  as  Dunn  was  a  fine  swimmer, 
the  Major  asked  him  to  swim  out  to  a  rock  where  he 
could  catch  the  rope  and  raise  it  over  the  rock  so  the 
boat  would  swing  in  below.  He  made  the  rock  all  O.  K. 
and  was  ready  to  catch  the  rope  which  was  supposed  to 
be  thrown  to  him,  so  he  could  swing  the  boat  in  below, 
but  the  Major  saw  his  chance  to  drown  Dunn,  as  we 
thought,  and  he  held  to  the  rope  .  That  was  the  first  time 
that  he  had  interfered  in  the  letting  the  boats  around  bad 
places  and  the  rope  caught  Dunn  around  the  legs  and 
pulled  him  into  the  current  and  came  near  loosing  the 
boat.  But  Dunn  held  on  to  the  rope  and  finally  stopped  in 
water  up  to  his  hips.  We  were  all  in  the  water  but  the 
Major  and  Captain  Dunn  told  the  Major  that  if  he  had 
not  been  a  good  swimmer  he  and  the  boat  both  would  have 
been  lost.  The  Major  said  as  to  Dunn  that  there  would 
have  been  but  little  loss.  One  word  brought  on  another, 
and  the  Major  called  Dunn  a  bad  name  and  Dunn  said 
that  if  the  Major  was  not  a  cripple  he  would  not  be  called 
such  names.  Then  Captain  Powell  said  he  was  not  crip- 
pled and  started  for  Dunn  with  an  oath,  and  the  remark 
he  would  finish  Dunn.  He. had  to  pass  right  by  me  and 
I  knew  that  he  would  soon  drown  Dunn,  as  he,  so  much 
larger,  could  easily  do.  He  was  swearing  and  his  eyes 
looked  like  fire  and  just  as  he  passed  I  caught  him  by  the 
hair  of  his  head  and  pulled  him  over  back  into  the  water. 
Howland  saw  us  scuffling  and  he  was  afraid  Cap  would 
get  hold  of  my  legs,  but  Dunn  got  to  me  first  and  said, 
For  God's  sake,  Bill,  you  will  drown  him.  By  that  time 
Howland  was  there  and  Cap  had  been  in  the  water  long 
enough  and  Dunn  and  Howland  drug  him  out  on  the 
sand  bar  in  the  rocks.  After  I  got  my  hold  in  Cap's  hair 
I  was  afraid  to  let  go,  for  he  was  a  very  strong  man.  He 
was  up  in  a  short  time,  and  mad !  I  guess  he  was  mad ! 

[26] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Coi,orado 
He  cursed  me  to  everything,  even  to  being  a  ''Missoury 
Puke."  I  wasn't  afraid  of  him  when  I  got  on  dry  ground  ; 
I  could  out-knock  him  after  he  was  picked  up  twice.  He 
made  for  his  gun  and  swore  he  would  kill  me  and  Dunn. 
But  this  talk  did  not  excite  me  and  as  he  was  taking  his 
gun  from  the  deck  of  the  boat  Andy  Hall  gave  him  a 
punch  behind  the  ear  and  told  him  to  put  it  back  or  off 
would  go  his  head.  Cap  looked  around  and  saw  who  had 
the  gun  and  he  sure  dropped  his.  This  all  happened  be- 
fore the  Major  got  around  to  where  we  were.  He  soon 
took  in  the  situation  and  came  to  me  and  made  the  re- 
mark that  he  would  have  never  thought  that  I  would  go 
back  on  him.  I  told  him  that  he  had  gone  back  on  himself 
and  that  he  had  better  help  Cap  get  the  sand  out  of  his 
eyes,  that  if  he  monkeyed  with  me  any  more  I  would 
keep  him  down  next  time.  Sumner  and  I  had  all  we 
could  do  to  keep  down  mutiny  and  there  was  bad  feeling 
from  that  time  on  for  a  few  days  and  we  began  to  not 
recognize  any  authority  from  the  Major,  We  began  to 
run  races  with  our  boats,  as  the  loads  were  almost  all 
gone.  It  was  fun  for  the  first  two  days,  but  the  water 
began  to  get  rough.  Hall,  Howland  and  myself  were  in 
my  boat  and  I  had  become  an  expert  in  bad  rapids  and 
we  ran  several  that  the  other  two  boats  were  let  over 
with  ropes.  We  stopped  at  noon  one  day  to  wait  for  the 
other  boats.  We  were  at  the  head  of  four  bad  rapids ;  it 
was  some  two  hours  before  the  other  boats  came  and  I 
liad  coffee  all  ready,  as  that  was  our  principal  food  then. 
We  had  but  little  flour,  but  had  plenty  of  dried  apples  and 
coffee.  We  laid  in  camp  that  afternoon  and  the  Major 
and  Sumner  spent  that  afternoon  in  trying  to  find  a  place 
where  we  could  let  the  boats  over  the  first  rapid  with 
ropes.  But  they  failed  to  find  any  place  where  we  could 
get  footing  enough  and  the  walls  were  too  high  for  our 
ropes,  so  the  Major  said  we  would  try  to  find  a  place  on 
the  west  side  the  next  day.  That  evening  late  Major  and 
Sumner  and  the  two  Howland  boys  held  a  consultation 

[271 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oi<  the  Colorado 
(as  I  afterwards  found  out)  to  see  about  leaving  the 
river  with  all  hands.  He  said  we  would  cross  over  and 
leave  our  boats  and  instruments  under  some  large  rocks 
and  that  we  then  would  go  out  to  some  Mormon  settle- 
ments and  get  some  grub  and  return  to  our  boats  and 
continue  on  down  the  river.  The  Major  asked  me  to 
bake  up  all  the  flour  that  we  had  and  said  to  make  the 
bread  into  bisquits,  or  dough-gods  (as  we  called  them), 
as  flour  and  water  was  what  we  had  to  make  them  with. 
In  about  three  hours  I  had  them  all  baked.  I  told  the 
Major  that  the  bread  was  ready  and  he  called  the  boys 
and  told  them  all  his  intentions  as  to  leaving  the  river. 
That  was  the  first  time  Hall  and  I  knew  anything  about 
what  was  going  on.  I  told  Hall  to  take  our  shares  and  put 
them  in  the  boat,  as  the  Major  said  that  each  man  should 
keep  his  own  part  as  we  might  get  separated.  I  told  the 
Major  that  Hall  and  I  had  no  intention  of  separating, 
and  that  Bradley,  Hall  and  myself  were  going  to  stay 
with  the  river  and  go  through  or  drown.  I  also  told  him 
that  if  we  had  enough  coming  to  us  to  pay  for  the  boat 
that  he  could  keep  it.  Dunn,  O.  G.  Howland  and  Seneca 
Howland  had  made  up  their  minds  to  go  and  Dunn  said 
he  hated  to  leave  Hall  and  myself,  as  we  had  been  to- 
gether a  long  time,  and  that  we  would  perish  in  the  river 
and  that  we  had  better  come  and  stay  with  the  party.  I 
told  him  that  was  what  I  was  doing,  that  I  called  Hall, 
Bradley  and  myself  a  party  of  three  and  each  one  of  them 
was  a  party  of  one.  While  we  were  talking  the  Major 
came  up  to  me  and  laid  his  left  arm  across  my  neck,  tears 
running  down  his  cheeks.  By  that  time  the  rest  of  the 
boys  were  present  and  the  Major  said  to  me,  Bill,  do  you 
really  mean  what  you  say  ?  I  told  him  that  I  did,  and  he 
said  that  if  he  had  one  man  that  would  stay  with  him 
that  he  would  not  abandon  the  river,  I  just  simply  said 
that  he  did  not  know  his  party,  and  that  Andy  Hall  and 
myself  were  too  young  to  have  any  say  in  council  and  I 
said  we  are  oflf  now.     He  said  that  it  was  near  noon  and 

[  28  ] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Colorado 

if  I  would  make  some  coffee  that  we  would  have  a  cup  of 
coffee  together.  I  have  been  present  at  many  solemn 
occasions,  but  I  never  witnessed  one  that  come  up  to  this. 
There  were  some  strong  hearts  that  shed  tears.  Bradley 
said  it  made  him  a  child  again.  We  crossed  over  to  the 
west  side  of  the  river  and  there  was  where  we  left  our 
instruments  and  one  boat.  This  is  the  last  time  we  ever 
saw  Dunn  and  the  two  Howland  brothers  alive.  Some 
years  afterwards  I,  with  a  party  of  some  others,  buried 
their  bones  in  the  Shewitz  Mountains,  below  Kanab  wash. 
As  to  Powell  leaving  the  party  at  Lee's  Ferry,  there  was 
no  ferry  on  the  river,  no  one  except  some  Indians  ever 
crossed.  There  was  no  place  known  as  Kanab  wash 
when  we  first  came  down.  Powell  never  left  the  party 
until  we  got  through  to  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin  River, 
where  he  and  his  brother  were  taken  to  the  railroad  or 
stage  by  some  Mormons  who  lived  on  the  Muddy.  Sum- 
ner, Bradley,  Hall  and  myself  continued  on  down  the 
river.  Hall  and  I  stopped  at  Ehrenburg  and  Sumner  and 
Bradley  went  on  to  Yuma.  From  there  Sumner  went  to 
Denver  and  Bradley  to  San  Diego,  where  he  died.  Sum- 
ner died  at  Vernal,  Utah,  so  I  heard,  and  Hall  was  killed 
near  Globe,  Arizona.  Powell  and  his  brother  both  died 
somewhere  in  the  east  and  I  am  here  nine  miles  below 
Phoenix. 

W.  W.  Hawkins. 


[291 


PART  II. 

Thk  Story  o^  James  Whitk,  ths:  First  Man  to  Pass 
Through  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado  River. 

It  seems  to  be  a  natural  trait  for  any  man,  no  matter 
how  great,  to  claim  to  have  been  first  in  any  great  en- 
deavor, dangerous  exploration  or  unusual  undertaking. 
Hence  it  was  to  be  expected  that  after  Major  Powell 
had  made  his  memorable  first  trip  down  the  Canyons  of 
the  Colorado  that  he  and  his  friends  should  assert  that 
his  was  the  first  expedition  to  attempt  this  hazardous 
undertaking.  Yet,  while  it  may  appear  strange,  an  ac- 
count appeared  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  Herald  of  the  date 
of  January  8,  1869,  about  five  months  before  Major 
Powell  started  on  his  first  expedition,  giving  circum- 
stantial detail  of  the  passage  on  a  raft  through  the  Can- 
yons of  the  Colorado  from  the  San  Juan  River,  by  a  Wis- 
consin prospector,  James  White. 

More  dead  than  alive,  he  emerged  from  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  Canyon  at  Callville,  a  Mormon  settlement, 
where  he  was  cared  for  and  nursed  back  to  life.  INIr. 
White  is  still  alive,  a  respected  and  honored  old  man,  a 
citizen  of  Trinidad,  Colorado,  and  while  all  the  writers 
that  have  extolled  Powell,  from  George  Wharton  James 
down  to  the  Kolb  Bros.,  have  either  abused  or  ignored 
White,  there  is  a  growing  conviction  that  the  old  man's 
story  was  and  is  true  and  that  he  did  actually  make  the 
journey.  A  stalwart  defender  of  White  appeared  in  1917 
in  the  person  of  Mr.  Thomas  F.  Dawson,  who  succeeded 
in  having  the  Senate  of  the  U.  S.  Congress  publish  an 
elaborate  argument  of  some  sixty-seven  pages  which  he 
had  prepared,  entitled:  "The  Grand  Canyon — An  article 

[30] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

giving  the  credit  of  first  traversing  the  Grand  Canyon  of 
the  Colorado  to  James  White,  a  Colorado  gold  prospector, 
who  it  is  claimed  made  the  voyage  two  years  previous  to 
the  expedition  under  the  direction  of  Maj.  J.  W.  Powell 
in  1869." 

This  pamphlet  called  forth  a  strong  rejoinder  from 
Robert  Brewster  Stanton,  which  occupied  some  twenty- 
two  pages  of  "The  Trail,"  a  monthly  publication  of  the 
"Sons  of  Colorado."  In  it,  this  eminent  engineer  and 
writer,  whose  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Canyon  none  can 
dispute,  while  giving  full  credit  to  the  honesty  and  integ- 
rity of  Mr.  White,  still  insists  that  he  was  unintentionally 
wrong  in  the  main  part  of  his  statements. 

On  the  other  hand,  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh,  who  has  written 
two  books  on  the  Colorado  River,  viz.,  "The  Romance 
of  the  Colorado  River"  and  "A  Canyon  Voyage,"  openly 
assails  White  as  a  mendacious  fabricator  of  the  worst 
type. 

It  would  not  be  impossible  for  me,  with  my  intimate 
personal  knowledge  of  one  portion  of  the  Grand  Canyon, 
extending  over  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years,  to  point 
out  discrepancies  and  inaccuracies  in  the  published  state- 
ments of  both  Stanton  and  Dellenbaugh,  but  it  is  no  I 
worth  while  here  to  do  this.  Personally,  I  have  come  to 
believe  White's  statements,  and  here  wish  to  reproduce  in 
fac-simile  a  letter  he  wrote  to  his  brother,  dated  Callville, 
September  26,  1867.  Owing  to  the  imperfections  in  spell- 
ing, punctuation,  etc.,  I  give  a  rendition  (made  by  Mr. 
Dawson)  into  correct  English. 


[31 


'BANCROFT 

I  •?RARY 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 


.^. 


^. .  ^^^/.^.. 

/^X^^i/<f^      a,/r/tra,,ytC  ^.^  _^//  >^tf  i^^a^     ^/^y  m^aw mi/^ .JUimn^ 

Xu^  *^ ya^/zi  ///^^ .Zr  i^-^y^ . ^<t^z o^ii'^ ■■//-t/j/i^'^ 
s^  j^t^  "'^y^  y(^sj^  ^yy  ^^y^j^'  ^  ^^y^ .  ^^.j^ 

JZ^6m  ^^'^  At^jy-^y  yinw^  ^  '^^^f^ y';j^  ./^^<^  ;</ ^>?/ 
y  .f  .   ,/  ^  ^.  ^  y/     /./.        y^^^^  y/^^^  ^  ■./y,^,'y 

y^^  y/y.  yZ, 

yW  jy  ^'  ,/'^iy  ^^  t/U'    ..   -r#//  Jiv  ^  y^  ./.y^  ^t/  yki 


j,yj^  ■ 


./^ 


y^l   ,y  \.U^  a/    (fy/LJ^  Ji^^au 


Fac-simile  of  first  page  of  James  White's  letter  to  his  brother. 


[32] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 


y 


n 


■//.y-yC ^  .^/^.A 


/^/,  i 


4a  ^..^- '/  />  ^- 

U^   /,/    /.>i    ,  ^ 

^»-  ^^v^v/^;   A..ry  .^:jr  ^^yy"  t.p^*ry  ^  ^/^ 


'^r^yy^  a,.y^  /^c/  yyy  ^.  >^ 


-y-y^ 


y .  y 


yyj'*^  ■  ^y^ 


^  ^..,9.  '/y^y  y^^^/i. 

.  /-^<. ,  y' .  ^  <^  y   r,  >,>  ^ 


^^_. 

-^^.  "^^ 


-^^J 


u^ 


-^5::^ 


Fac-simile  of  second  page  of  James  White's  letter,  and  the  envelope  in 
which  it  was  sent  to  his  brother. 


zz 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

NAVIGATION  OF  THE  BIG  CANON 
A  TERRIBLE  VOYAGE 

Callville,  September  26,  1867. 
Dear  brother : 

It  has  been  some  time  since  I  have  heard  from  you.  I  got  no 
answer  from  the  last  letter  I  wrote  you,  for  I  left  soon  after  I 
wrote.  I  went  prospecting  with  Captain  Baker  and  George  Stroll 
in  the  San  Juan  mountains.  We  found  very  good  prospects,  but 
nothing  that  would  pay.  Then  we  started  down  the  San  Juan 
River.  We  traveled  down  about  200  miles ;  then  we  crossed  over 
on  the  Colorado  and  camped.  We  laid  over  one  day.  We  found 
that  we  could  not  travel  down  the  river,  and  our  horses  had 
sore  feet.  We  had  made  up  our  minds  to  turn  back  when  we 
were  attacked  by  fifteen  or  twenty  Ute  Indians.  They  killed 
Baker,  and  George  Stroll  and  myself  took  four  ropes  off  our 
horses,  an  axe,  ten  pounds  of  flour  and  our  guns.  We  had  fifteen 
miles  to  walk  to  the  Colorado.  We  got  to  the  river  just  at  night. 
We  built  a  raft  that  night.  We  sailed  all  that  night.  We  had 
good  sailing  for  three  days ;  the  fourth  day  George  Stroll  was 
washed  off  the  raft  and  drowned,  and  that  left  me  alone.  I 
thought  that  it  would  be  my  time  next.  I  then  pulled  off  my 
pants  and  boots.  I  then  tied  a  rope  to  my  waist.  I  went  over 
falls  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high.  My  raft  would  tip  over  three 
or  four  times  a  day.  The  third  day  we  lost  our  flour,  and  for 
seven  days  I  had  nothing  to  eat  except  a  raw-hide  knife  cover. 
The  eighth  day  I  got  some  mesquite  beans.  The  thirteenth  day 
I  met  a  party  of  friendly  Indians.  They  would  not  give  me  any- 
thing to  eat,  so  I  gave  them  my  pistol  for  the  hind  parts  of  a  dog. 
I  had  one  of  them  for  supper  and  the  other  for  breakfast.  The 
sixteenth  day  I  arrived  at  Callville,  where  I  was  taken  care  of 
by  James  Ferry.  I  was  ten  days  without  pants  or  boots  or  hat. 
I  was  sun-burnt  so  I  could  hardly  walk.  The  Indians  took  seven 
head  of  horses  from  us.  I  wish  I  could  write  you  half  I  under- 
went. I  saw  the  hardest  time  that  any  man  ever  did  in  the 
world,  but  thank  God  that  I  got  through  it  safe.  I  am  well 
again,  and  I  hope  these  few  lines  will  find  you  all  well.  I  send 
my  best  respects  to  all.  Josh,  answer  this  when  you  get  it. 
Direct  your  letter  to  Callville,  Arizona.  Ask  Tom  to  answer  that 
letter  I  wrote  him  several  years  ago. 

James  White. 

Stanton  claims  that  White  only  went  through  the  lower 
part  of  the  Canyon,  viz.,  from  the  Grand  Wash  Cliffs  to 

[341 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Cowrado 

Callville.  This  much  he  concedes,  and  he  asserts  that  the 
evidence  is  clear  that  White  was  led  to  claim  he  had 
traveled  the  whole  length  of  the  Canyons,  not  through 
dishonesty,  but  by  the  law  of  suggestion. 

The  men  with  whom  he  talked,  after  he  was  rescued 
from  the  raft,  knowing  little  or  nothing  of  the  Canyon, 
and  assuming  he  had  traveled  the  whole  distance  from  the 
San  Juan,  made  him  believe  he  had  so  traveled.  When 
his  terrible  physical  and  mental  condition  is  recalled,  it 
is  not  hard  to  believe  that  he  was  in  such  a  weakened 
state  as  readily  to  receive  any  powerful  mental  sugges- 
tion, and  that  this,  once  firmly  fixed  in  his  mind,  ever 
afterwards  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  strict  and  literal 
truth. 

But  this  assertion  of  Stanton's  implies  that  White  and 
his  companion,  Stroll,  after  Captain  Baker  was  killed, 
crossed  the  intervening  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  San 
Juan  to  the  head  of  the  Grand  Wash,  and  that  he  there 
entered  the  Canyon  and  floated  down  to  Callville.  To  my 
limited  intelligence  it  seems  incredible  that  any  man  could 
believe  in  the  truth  and  honesty  of  James  White  and  yet 
not  question  him  as  to  how  he  forgot  to  mention  how  he 
traveled  over  all  these  hundreds  of  miles.  White  never 
makes  a  word  of  reference  to  it,  nor  does  Stanton.  Did 
White  come  on  a  flying  machine  in  a  trance?  Let  any- 
one, even  though  he  be  unfamiliar  with  the  wild  country 
that  exists  between  the  San  Juan  and  the  Grand  Wash, 
look  at  a  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  map  and  he  will  then 
be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  practical  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  anyone  crossing  it.  Then,  when  it  is  recalled, 
that  White  was  beset  by  hostile  Indians,  who  were  deter- 
mined to  slay  him  and  capture  his  outfit ;  that  the  country 
was  unknown  to  him ;  that  there  was  no  food  except  that 
which  he  could  secure  with  his  rifle,  is  it  not  evident  that 
he  would  far  rather  take  his  chances  on  facing  the  un- 
known dangers  of  the  river  than  face  certain  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  surrounding  Indians? 

[35] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  oe  the  Coi^orado 
Personally,  it  is  far  harder  for  me  to  believe  that  White 
came  overland,  and  forgot  all  about  that  trip,  and  entered 
the  Canyon  at  its  lower  end,  than  it  is  to  accept  his-  own 
plain  statement  that  he  built  the  raft  near  the  junction  of 
the  Grand  and  the  Green  and  made  the  whole  descent  of 
the  Colorado  River  to  the  point  where  he  was  rescued 
at  Callville. 

My  first  interest  in  White's  trip  through  the  Grand 
Canyon  dates  back  to  1883,  while  I  was  engaged  in  train 
service  for  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad  (now  the 
Santa  Fe)  during  its  construction  between  Williams,  Ari- 
zona, and  the  Colorado  River  where  the  bridge  is  now  sit- 
uated near  Needles,  California.  It  so  happened  that  we 
were  detained  for  several  days  at  Kingman,  Arizona,  due 
to  a  fire  that  destroyed  boarding  cars  and  a  water  tank 
on  the  line  near  the  end  of  the  construction  work.  At 
this  time  I  had  never  taken  any  interest  in  the  Grand 
Canyon,  in  fact  knew  nothing  about  it,  only  from  vague 
reports  that  were  being  circulated  by  the  railroad  men 
who  had  been  out  to  see  it  from  Peach  Springs,  at  the 
mouth  of  Diamond  Creek  Canyon.  This  route  was  then 
in  its  infancy  and  later  was  opened  to  visitors  and  was 
the  first  one  opened  to  the  public.  They  were  so  en- 
thusiastic in  their  descriptions  of  this  now  famous  "Na- 
tional Park"  that  I  at  once  became  very  greatly  interested, 
and  when  I  chanced  to  meet  a  man  named  Hardy,  who 
was  then  in  Kingman,  I  found  that  he  lived  on  the  Colo- 
rado River  and  was  engaged  in  goat  raising.  He  told  me 
about  finding  some  mountain  sheep  among  his  band  of 
goats,  and  various  other  experiences  he  had  met,  not  the 
least  of  which  was  finding  a  man  on  a  raft  who  had  come 
through  the  entire  Grand  Canyon.  He  described  him  as 
being  in  an  exhausted  condition  and  covered  with  sores 
festered  by  flies.  After  reviving  the  man  they  learned 
the  story  of  his  suflferings  and  the  drowning  of  his  part- 
'^er  while  going  through  some  bad  rapids ;   in   fact  his 

\36] 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Colorado 

descriptions  to  me  of  what  White  told  him  was  very 
much  the  same  as  has  been  pubHshed  from  later  inter- 
views to  different  parties. 

This  was  in  July,  1883,  when  I  met  Mr.  Hardy,  and  in 
September  following  I  set  out  to  make  my  first  visit  to 
Grand  Canyon,  from  Williams,  Arizona. 

Since  that  time  I  have  taken  a  great  interest  in  its 
history  and  discovery.  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh,  a  member  of 
the  Powell  party  of  1872,  while  on  a  visit  to  my  camp  at 
Bass  Trail,  told  me  his  opinion  of  White's  dramatic  tale 
and  I  later  read  the  same  in  his  "Romance  of  the  Colo- 
rado River,"  wherein  he  stamps  the  whole  story  as  a 
''splendid  yarn"  (and  I  may  here  add,  ''but  well  told"). 
He  denounces  White's  account  as  an  utterly  improbable 
feat  to  accomplish,  but  from  my  first  personal  knowledge 
of  what  the  river  is  at  the  season  of  year  that  White's 
trip  was  staged,  I  cannot  agree  with  Dellenbaugh,  and 
never  have.  From  my  many  years  of  observation  in 
chis  section  of  the  Canyon  I  am  thoroughly  convinced 
that  during  the  period  of  high  water,  which  is  from  the 
last  of  June  until  late  in  August,  a  raft  may  pass  safely 
through  the  entire  488  miles  of  the  canyon  without  dis- 
aster. It  would  be  dangerous  in  the  extreme  in  low 
water.  Another  incident  to  strengthen  my  belief  in 
White's  story  was  the  meeting  of  a  man,  J.  P.  Vollmer 
by  name,  then  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Lewiston,  Idaho,  who  was  a  visitor  to  the  canyon  some 
years  later.  He  told  me  he  came  near  being  a  member  of 
White's  party  when  they  were  about  to  start  on  their 
prospecting  trip  on  the  Mancos  in  Colorado,  but  unavoid- 
ably he  was  prevented  from  joining  them  in  time  or  he 
might  have  been  among  them  when  attacked  by  the  Utes 
and  met  the  fate  of  Baker,  or  with  White  and  his  partner 
on  the  raft.  I  subsequently  corresponded  with  Vollmer 
regarding  the  incident  and  he  once  wrote  me  he  was  quite 
sure  he  could  find  some  record  of  dates  among  his  papers, 


Adventures  in  the  Canyons  of  the  Coeorado 

but  later  on  failed  to  do  so.  He  and  various  others 
with  whom  I  have  talked  regarding  White  have  all  united 
in  their  convictions  of  the  truth  of  White's  claims  regard- 
ng  this,  the  first  journey  through  the  entire  five  divisions 
of  canyons  through  which  the  Colorado  River  maintains 
its  tortuous  existence,  218  miles  of  which,  at  the  western 
end,  is  known  as  the  Grand  Canyon. 

W.  W.  BASS. 
Grand  Canyon,  Arizona,  May  21st,  1920. 


Additional  copies  of  this  booklet  may  be  obtained  by  addressing,  W.  W.  Bass, 
P.  O.  Box  15,  Grand  Canyon,  Ariz. 

[381 


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